


they'll turn out to be heroes

by Nicnac



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: (sort of), Family, Fluff, Gen, Remus Lupin Raises Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-18
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2020-01-15 19:51:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18505909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicnac/pseuds/Nicnac
Summary: Placed with the Dursleys Harry will be safe, but Dumbledore would still like to have someone nearby to keep an eye on him. Someone mild and unassuming and unlikely to upset the Dursleys. Really, there's only one good choice.





	they'll turn out to be heroes

**Author's Note:**

> “You don’t raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they’ll turn out to be heroes, even if it’s just in your own eyes.” -Walter M. Schirra Sr.

**_0_ **

_Remus sat across from Lily at the Potter’s kitchen table. Behind him James was pacing back and forth, gently bouncing the infant Harry._

_Lily reached over, touched the back of Remus’s hand, and said, “I hope you know even though we decided on  Sirius his godfather, we consider you and Peter as honorary godfathers too.”_

_James paused in his bouncing journey to clap Remus on the shoulder and say, “Of course Moony knows that, don’t you? Here, why don’t you hold him for a minute?”_

_And then Remus abruptly had a baby in his arms. Harry had been fussing a minute ago – the reason James had been walking with him in the first place – but he fell silent upon finding himself being held by someone new. “Hello, Harry,” Remus said. Harry looked at him with solemn green eyes, then suddenly broke out in a big, open-mouthed grin. Remus placed a kiss on the baby’s forehead and grinned back._

**1**

Remus rapped twice on the door. As he waited for someone to answer, he tugged nervously at the sleeves of his new sport coat. Brand new in fact, not just new to him – he thought it might make a better impression.

After a minute the door opened to a woman who really didn’t look like Lily very much at all. Remus might have thought he’d gotten the wrong house if he hadn’t checked the address three times before knocking. Plus she was holding a baby, who wasn’t Harry, but did appear to be about Harry’s age, as Remus recalled Harry’s cousin was.

Petunia Dursley’s eyes quickly swept him up and down, only lingering momentarily on the worn cuffs on his trousers. “I’m not interested, thank you,” she sniffed.

“Oh no, I’m not selling anything,” Remus said quickly before she could shut the door on him. “I’m your new neighbor. I was going around introducing myself.” It wasn’t technically a lie, even if the only reason he was introducing himself to any of the other neighbors was to act as a cover for this particular visit.

The word neighbor seemed to catch Petunia’s interest. “You’re the one who moved into Number 27, Wisteria Walk?” she asked.

“That’s me. Remus Lupin nice to meet you,” he said, extending his hand.

She regarded him with a slightly suspicious look, and Remus momentarily panicked, thinking he should have used an alias after all. He had considered it, but had decided it was unnecessary; by the time Lily and Remus had become actual friends, Lily and Petunia were already largely estranged. After a moment the panic passed as Petunia briefly shook his hand. “Petunia Dursley. My husband, Vernon, is already at work today. And where is Mrs. Lupin?”

“There is no Mrs. Lupin,” he told her.

“That’s a large house for a young bachelor to be living in all by himself,” she said, sounding even more suspicious.

“Yes, well…” Well, he hadn’t had anything to do with picking the house out. Dumbledore had purchased the place because it was near to where the Dursleys lived; Remus had merely been recruited to live in it and keep an eye on Harry. Not that he could say any of that to Petunia. “I suppose I just liked the neighborhood,” he offered instead.

It wasn’t the gossip she had been sniffing for, but it was clearly good answer nonetheless. “Oh yes, this is a very good neighborhood,” she said, drawing herself up importantly. “Not quite as nice as one starts moving out in your direction, but you were still lucky to get the house you did. Houses don’t come up on the market very often here, you know.”

“I’m sure they don’t,” Remus said agreeably, but he was distracted by the sound of a child crying coming from down the hallway. _Harry_.

He wasn’t allowed to interfere, he reminded himself. Introducing himself was one thing, but beyond that, and barring any emergencies, he was supposed to leave the Dursleys be. “I’m sorry, I’ve been taking you away from your children. I’ll let you get back to them now. Unless you would like some help?” The last sentence came out despite himself and his resolve not to interfere. But it wasn’t really interfering was it, just offering to help?

“I can manage fine,” Petunia said sharply.

“Of course you can; I didn’t mean to imply otherwise,” Remus said hastily. “I only meant I do have some experience with young children. And I work out of my home, so if you ever did need assistance, please let me know.”

Petunia eyed him contemplatively. “How do you feel about babysitting?”

**2**

Remus frowned into the phone. “But tomorrow is Harry’s birthday.”

“How did you know that?” Petunia snapped down the other line.

“Don’t you remember telling me? I asked when you dropped Harry off before Dudley’s birthday party last month.” Granted, Remus had known when Harry’s birthday was long before then, but he had made a point of asking.

Petunia sniffed. “He’s only going to be two. He won’t know the difference,” she said, as though they hadn’t thrown a lavish party for Dudley’s birthday. “Can you take him or not?”

Remus eyed the wrapped parcel on his table, the one he had been planning on dropping off at Privet Drive later today in anticipation of tomorrow. Just as well he hadn’t. “Yes, I can take him.”

**3**

Remus opened the door to find the Dursleys hadn’t even walked up to the front step with Harry. They were going on a week’s long vacation and not only could they not be bothered to bring their nephew with them, they couldn’t even be bothered to do more than drop him off at the curb. As soon as they saw Remus standing in the doorway, the car drove off and was gone by the time Harry had turned around to wave good-bye.

“Oh,” Harry said. He turned back around and blinked back tears. “They didn’ wait.”

Remus picked Harry up and hugged him tight. “It’s okay,” he said, even though it very manifestly was not. “You and I are going to have a lot of fun together this week, right?”

Harry sniffed and nodded. His smile was a bit watery, but Remus would take it.

**4**

Remus stepped in the backyard to check on Harry, then froze at the sight he saw there. Part of his wanted to rush over and grab Harry, but any sudden movements might cause the snake laying in the grass right in front of Harry’s face to attack. “Harry,” Remus said in a calm, even tone as he slowly approached the pair.

Harry looked back over his shoulder. “Hi, Remus. I gotta come inside now?”

“Yes, I think that would be a good idea,” Remus said.

“’Kay.” Harry turned back to the snake and began hissing at it. The snake _hissed back_ and then peacefully slithered away, leaving Remus dumbfound. Harry meanwhile treated the whole thing as perfectly ordinary, getting up off the grass and brushing some stray dirt off his stomach.

“Harry…” Remus said. “Harry, were you just talking to that snake?”

“Uh-huh,” Harry said.

“Not just pretend talking, but really talking to it?” Remus asked.

“Yeah, I already said. She’s nice,” Harry answered.

“I see,” Remus said. “That’s very… it’s very special that you can talk to snakes. So special that we should keep it a secret, between just you and me.”

**5**

Remus stood out in front of the school, carefully watching the children as the streamed out. Still, with how many of them there were, it wasn’t surprising Harry spotted him first. “Mr. Lupin!” Harry cried, running up and stopping just short of throwing himself at Remus, vibrating with excitement. The more formal address and lack of a hug both Remus attributed to Dudley, trailing just behind Harry and giving Remus a suspicious look.

“Your mother’s just over there,” Remus told him, pointing to the car where Petunia was waiting.

Dudley leered at Harry. “Mummy and me are gonna get ice cream, and you can’t come.” Harry looked crestfallen which was apparently the reaction his cousin wanted, as Dudley chuckled meanly, then walked off to his mother’s car.

Remus reached down for Harry’s hand. “What your aunt and cousin don’t know is I have ice cream at home in my freezer. We’ll get some before I have to take you home.”

“Thanks Remus!” Harry said, all smiles again.

“Of course,” Remus said. The two of them began walking back toward Wisteria Walk. “Now tell me all about your first day at school.”

**6**

Harry had weird dreams sometimes. Dreams about stuff happening that couldn’t really happen. He never talked to his aunt and uncle about them – they didn’t like it when he talked about things that couldn’t happen. He talked to Remus about them instead. Remus always listened to his dreams and said nice things about them, like how it would be nice if motorcycles could fly or people could turn into deer or that a green light could be really scary, depending.

**7**

Harry sat quietly in his cupboard and waited to hear Uncle Vernon leave for work. It was easier in the school year; then Harry just turned two streets early when he was walking back from school and went to Remus’s house instead. As long as he wasn’t around, the Dursleys didn’t think about him much. As long as Harry made sure he didn’t come back too late the worst that would happen was Uncle Vernon grumbling a bit.

Summers were better because Harry could go over to Remus’s house in the morning instead of waiting until the afternoon, but they were also harder because he couldn’t go first thing in the morning. Most of the time Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia didn’t care when Harry said was going over there, but sometimes they got into moods. When Uncle Vernon got into a mood he started complaining about how lazy and ungrateful Harry was, and stuck him with a bunch of chores to do, which usually meant he didn’t get over until afternoon anyway.

So Harry sat and waited until he heard Uncle Vernon say good-bye to Aunt Petunia and leave for work. Then he slowly counted to one hundred before coming out of his cupboard. He walked into the kitchen where Aunt Petunia was making breakfast. “Aunt Petunia, I’m going to go over to Mr. Lupin’s house.”

It turned out today Aunt Petunia was the one in a mood. She turned away from the stove and looked at Harry in a way he didn’t understand. “Make sure you behave yourself,” she said after a minute. Not meanly, it sounded a little like when she told Dudley the same kind of thing before he went to one of his friend’s houses.

“I will,” Harry said.

Aunt Petunia gave a hard blink, then she was looking at him like she always did again. “All right then, off with you,” she said, and Harry scurried out of the house.

When he got to Remus’s house he reached into his pocket and pulled out the key Remus had given him so Harry could come see him whenever he needed to. He unlocked the door and went inside, calling out, “Remus?”

“In here,” he answered. Harry followed his voice into the living room where he found Remus laying on the couch under a blanket, looking thin and grey and unwell. “Good morning, Harry.”

“Morning,” Harry said. “I haven’t had breakfast yet, so I’m going to go make some tea and toast, okay?”

Remus smiled. “Of course. Help yourself.”

Harry went into the kitchen and set the water to boiling as he made six pieces of toast. Instead of butter, he put peanut butter on the toast, because he heard it was nutritious and nutritious things were good for you when you were sick, and Remus liked peanut butter anyway.  Once the tea and toast was ready, Harry loaded it all onto a tray and brought it back out to the living room. “I made lots, so you can have some too.”

“Thank you,” Remus said. He grabbed a piece of toast and took a big bite out of it. “You’re a very good boy, Harry.”

Harry blushed a little and mumbled a thank you. “Oh hey, Remus, you know what I noticed?”

“What’s that?” Remus asked.

“I noticed the night before you get sick is always a full moon. Isn’t that funny?”

Remus went very still for a second, then grabbed his mug and took a sip of tea. “Well both my illness and the moon have four week cycles. I think a lot of things do. My cycle and the moon’s must have lined up.”

Harry nodded. “That makes sense.”

“Mmmm,” Remus hummed. “Would you like to read more of our book? I left it on the shelf just over there.”

“Yeah!” Harry said. He grabbed the book off the shelf and climbed up on the couch and under the blanket next to Remus.

Remus tucked Harry under one arm and kissed him on the top of the head. “Now where were we…?” 

**8**

“Can you sign it?” Harry asked, handing Remus his almost finished library card application.

Remus looked at the paper. “This says it wants your parent or guardian’s signature.”

“I already asked Aunt Petunia and she said no,” Harry explained. “And I thought, a guardian is someone who takes care of you, right? So maybe…”

“Harry…” Remus hugged him tight. “Of course I’ll sign it for you.”

**9**

Harry snuck quietly down Wisteria Walk and up to Remus’s front door. He didn’t really have to sneak, it was the middle of the night so there wasn’t going to be anyone watching him, but Harry wasn’t supposed to be out, so he really felt like he ought to sneak anyway. He put the key in the lock and listened to the deadbolt slowly slide back. He held his breath, turned the handle, and the door...

Didn’t open. Harry frowned. He twisted the knob again and pushed as hard as he could and nothing. He messed about with the lock and the knob and even kicked the door a few times, but it remained stubbornly closed. “Come on,” Harry whispered as he leaned his entire weight on the door, “open.” And suddenly it did.

Harry tumbled into the front hall, nearly falling to the ground. He caught himself just in time by grabbing onto the little table just inside. Once he’d caught his balance, he pulled the door to behind him, but didn’t dare to close it all the way, just in case. He looked up the stairway for a moment before deciding to head into the living room first. He peered around the doorway and there, curled up asleep on the couch, was a wolf.

“Wow,” Harry said. He had been right.

Harry had forgotten to keep his voice quiet and the wolf’s ears pricked up. He turned toward Harry, and suddenly a large pair of amber eyes were staring straight at him. “Remus? It really is you, isn’t it?” Harry said.

The wolf whined and laid its ears back.  He climbed gracefully off the couch and walked up to Harry where it began butting its nose into Harry’s chest.

Harry grinned. “Hi, Remus.” He reached to scratch behind Remus’s ear, only to have the wolf growl at him. Maybe that was rude.

Except the wolf kept pushing its nose against Harry’s chest. “Sorry, I don’t know what you want,” Harry said.

The wolf huffed. Very, very gently, he reached in and grabbed the edge of Harry’s shirt between his teeth. Then he began pulling Harry back out into the hall. When they reached the front door, the wolf pawed the door back open, then shoved Harry outside. Before Harry even knew what was happening, the door was being slammed shut in his face.

“Hey!” Harry protested, glaring at the door. The door stayed closed. After a minute, Harry began to laugh in delight. He had been right.

**10**

“And we’ll buy you another _two_ presents while we’re out today. How’s that, popkin? _Two_ more presents. Is that alright?”

Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, “So I’ll have thirty… thirty…”

“Thirty-nine, sweetums,” said Aunt Petunia.

“Oh.” Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. “All right then.”

Harry leaned over toward Aunt Petunia as Dudley began unwrapping his first present – a new computer game. “Should I walk over to Mr. Lupin’s now?”

“Yes, yes,” she urged him in an undertone. “Clean up your plate and get going.”

Harry hurried to do as she asked. Sure, the zoo might have been fun, but he was just glad to be spared any amount of time in the company of Dudley and his friends. 

**11**

As soon as he’d gotten his trunk full of new thing in his new room, Harry grabbed Hedwig in her cage and ran right back out the front door. “I’m going to Mr. Lupin’s!” he yelled over his shoulder, not waiting for a response.

Hagrid had been pretty clear about Muggles not being allowed to know about magic, but it was also clear there were exceptions to that – the Dursleys got to know. What was less clear was what the rules were for those exceptions. Harry hadn’t exactly been able to ask if a Muggle werewolf could be allowed to know about witches and wizards either, because when he’d tried asking Hagrid about werewolves in general he’d gotten the idea he shouldn’t spread it around that someone was one. So he figured for now he’d hold off on telling Remus about magic until he could get to school and had time to investigate what the rules were without making anyone suspicious.

But there was nothing to keep him from telling Remus that he’d gotten into a public boarding school, the same school his parents had gone to even. He also didn’t see any reason he couldn’t tell Remus about his new pet owl. Maybe Harry could even convince him he’d got the owl from a specialty shop where they trained them like carrier pigeons, so Harry could write him during the school year.

“Remus, guess what!” Harry called as he banged open the front door to Remus’s house.

Remus came out of the kitchen, looked at the cage in Harry’s hand, and said, “Drat. I was hoping to take you to Diagon Alley myself.”

Harry stared at him gape-mouthed. Remus chuckled, and ushered Harry into the living room. “Come, sit down. I’m sure that cage is heavy, let me take that for you.” Remus plucked the cage out of Harry’s hand and peeked inside before setting it down on the coffee table. “A very handsome animal. Have you named it yet?”

“No I haven’t,” Harry said faintly. “Remus, you know about magic?”

“Of course. I’m a wizard, just like yourself,” Remus said, sitting down on the couch next to Harry.

“But, but… but why didn’t you ever tell about it?” Remus had to have known Harry was magic too. Hagrid had said Harry was famous in the magic world and almost everyone in Diagon Alley had recognized him. Plus Remus knew about Harry talking to snakes and all the other weird magic things Harry had done growing up.

“I wasn’t allowed to,” Remus explained. “When your aunt agreed to take you in, she was promised there would be no interference from the magical community. I moved here to keep an eye on you, but unless you appeared to be in immediate danger, I wasn’t allowed to intervene in any way with how they raised you.

“Not allowed to intervene?” Harry echoed, looking at Remus disbelieving.

Remus grinned at him conspiratorially. “Well, it’s hardly my fault Petunia kept asking me to babysit you. I wouldn’t call that intervening, would you?”

An answering grin slowly spread its way across Harry’s face. “No I wouldn’t. So you’re really a wizard too?”

In reply Remus flicked his wrist and his wand slid out of his sleeve. “Accio,” he said, pointing at a picture that Harry didn’t remember seeing before sitting on the mantle. The picture came flying toward Remus, who caught it and handed it to Harry. “Something else that I haven’t been able to give you before now.”

The picture was of three people standing next to each other. Not just standing, but moving, laughing and smiling and nudging each other and waving up at Harry. That wasn’t the part that interested Harry. What interested him were the people in the picture. The man on the left he recognized right away as a younger Remus. On the right was a woman. She was a very pretty woman. She had dark red hair and her eyes – her eyes were just like Harry’s. Bright green, and exactly the same shape. In between the other two was a tall, thin, black-haired man who had his arms around both of them. He wore glasses, and his hair was very untidy. It stuck up at the back, just as Harry’s did.

“Mum?” he whispered. “Dad?”

Remus ran his hand through Harry’s hair, before pulling him into a sideways hug. Harry looked up at him, tears beginning to form in his eyes. Remus smiled gently and said, “Ask as many questions as you like.”

**12**

_Harry,_

_I just heard there’s been another attack at the school. I realize no one’s been done any permanent harm yet, and I trust Dumbledore to keep you all safe, but still. It worries me. I think you should come home for Christmas. I’ll pick you up at the station and you can stay with me over the break. The Dursleys never even have to know you came back. Please think about it._

_Remus_

**13**

“COME BACK HERE!” Uncle Vernon bellowed. “COME BACK AND PUT HER RIGHT!”

But a reckless rage had come over Harry. He pointed his wand at Uncle Vernon.

“She deserved it,” Harry said, breathing very fast. “She deserved what she got. You keep away from me.”

He fumbled behind him for the latch on the door.

“I’m going,” Harry said. “I’ve had enough.”

And in a moment he was out on the dark, quiet street. He didn’t think at all about where he was going, but he didn’t need to think about it. Where else would he go but to Remus’s house? Aside from Hedwig and all the rest of his magical things being there, he needed to see Remus. Harry had just done very serious magic, which meant he was almost certainly expelled from Hogwarts. He had broken the Decree for the Restriction of Underage magic so badly, he was surprised Ministry of Magic representatives weren’t swooping down on him this very second.

He had to see Remus; Remus would find a way to fix it. He’d set things to rights last year when Harry got blamed for the hovering charm Dobby had done. Except Harry actually had performed the magic himself this time. Well, if Remus couldn’t fix it, then the two of them could flee England together. They could go to France or Spain or, or Sweden. Yeah, Harry bet they were really open minded about werewolves in Sweden.

Harry turned down Wisteria Walk and could see Remus’s house in the distance. As he drew closer, the front door opened and Remus came out. He looked about frantically for a second, then spotted Harry and practically started running toward him. Within seconds he had reached him and folded him in a hug.

Harry hugged back, gripping tight onto the back of Remus’s shirt. “Remus, I’m in big trouble.”

“You certainly are,” Remus said, going from relieved to stern in an instant. He grabbed Harry’s shoulders and seemed to be holding himself back from punctuating his words with vigorous shakes. “What were you thinking, leaving your aunt’s house in the middle of the night, unsupervised? What if Black had found you?”

Harry shook his head. He hadn’t even been thinking about Black. He knew he probably should be worried about him, but he couldn’t make himself focus on that at the moment. “That’s not what I was talking about,” Harry said, then explained what had happened with Aunt Marge earlier.

“Harry,” Remus said, looking unsure as to whether he wanted to laugh or cry. “Harry, that was accidental magic. No one is going to expel you for something you can’t control. They certainly aren’t going to arrest you for it. Not any more than you got arrested for turning your primary school teacher’s wig blue.”

“Oh.” Harry said, feeling a little foolish now. “Well, I don’t think Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon are going to care it was an accident.”

“No, I don’t suppose they will,” Remus said. He sighed, and turned back toward his house, keeping one hand on Harry’s shoulder so he could propel Harry in that direction. “We can sort out how to deal with them later; if need be you are more than welcome to stay with me for the rest of summer. For now, let’s get you back inside.”

**14**

Harry’s eyes snapped open. He clenched the sheets beneath him as his heart tried to pound its way out of his chest. After a moment he sat up. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood. When he slipped his feet into his battered trainers, his heel crushed down on the back of the shoes. He didn’t bother to fix it.

He made his way down the stairs, avoiding the creaky spots out of long habit rather than any real effort. He paused after slipping out the front door; he’d forgotten to bring his key to lock it behind him. He decided it didn’t matter.

The cold night air brought out goose pimples on his arms. He’d forgotten to grab a coat. He thought about that as he walked, wishing that he had a coat. He didn’t think about a cold, cruel laugh, about a graveyard full of shadowy figures, about a flash of green light and ‘kill the spare’, about a heavy body with lifeless eyes and -

He stopped. He stared dumbfounded at the lock on Remus’s door for a while. He’d forgotten to bring this key too. After a moment he knocked on the door. No one answered so he kept on knocking and knocking and knocking.

The door flew open. “Who - Harry?” Remus stood in the doorway, wand in hand, but his arm dropped when he recognized Harry. He crouched down a bit so he could try to meet Harry’s eyes. Harry wasn’t looking at him. He was looking at the bookshelf against the back wall.

“Harry? What’s wrong?”

“I…” Harry licked his lips. “I… Cedric…” He blinked. He blinked again. And again and again as the image of the bookshelf started to go blurry. “Cedric is dead.”

Suddenly two pair of arms wrapped themselves around him. Harry pressed his face against Remus’s shoulder and sobbed.

**15**

“He’s got Moony!” Harry shouted. “He’s got Moony at the place where it’s hidden!”

**16**

“You see!” said a strained voice. Tonks was glaring at Remus. “She still wants to marry him even though he’s been bitten! She doesn’t care!’

“It’s different,” Remus said, barely moving his lips and looking suddenly tense. “Bill will not be a full werewolf. The cases are completely –”

“But I don’t care either, I don’t care!” said Tonks, seizing the front of Remus’s robes and shaking them

And the meaning of Tonks’s Patronus and her mouse-colored hair, the reason she had come running to find Dumbledore when she had heard a rumor someone had been attacked by Greyback, the reason for Remus’s good cheer and secretive half-smiles last year, followed by his sullen and moody behavior this past summer, all of it suddenly became clear to Harry.

“And I’ve told _you_ a million times,” said Remus, refusing to meet her eyes, staring at the floor, “that I am too old for you… too dangerous…”

“I think you should marry her,” Harry blurted out. Honestly, the idea of Remus and Tonks together like that was a little weird for him. But all growing up Harry had never known Remus to visit anyone or to have anyone visit him aside from Harry. Remus had been spending a lot of time with Sirius for a while there, but Sirius was gone now and pretty soon Harry was going to be grown up and on his own, and where would that leave Remus? “If you love her, you should marry her.”

“Harry!” Tonks let go of Remus’s robes so she could wrap Harry in a hug and plant a deliberately obnoxious kiss on his cheek. “See,” she said to Remus, one arm still around Harry’s shoulders, “Harry agrees with me. You’re just being a stubborn, noble, self-sacrificing idiot, right Harry?”

Remus had looked up from the floor and was staring at the two of them, astonished. Harry stared back, unable to agree with what Tonks had said right to Remus’s face, but unable to disagree either, since he didn’t think she was wrong.

Just then, the hospital doors opened again, distracting everyone. Still, from the last shoulder squeeze Tonks gave Harry and glare she shot at Remus before she turned to Hagrid, Harry was pretty sure this wasn’t over.

**17**

“My kind don’t usually breed! It will be like me, I am convinced of it – how can I forgive myself, when I knowingly risked passing on my own condition to an innocent child? And if, by some miracle, it is not like me, then it will be better off, a hundred times so, without a father with whom it must always be ashamed!”

“Remus!” Hermione whispered, tears in her eyes. “Don’t say that – how could any child be ashamed of you?”

“Oh I don’t know, Hermione. I’d be pretty ashamed of him. In fact I am ashamed of him,” said Harry, his anger having propelled him to his feet. Remus looked as though Harry had hit him.

“Not because you’re a werewolf, because you’re being reckless and a coward. And also incredibly thick; you really think your baby is going to be better off without you around? Do you think I would have been better off without you growing up, just stuck with the Dursleys?”

“I – the baby will have Tonks, and her parents,” Remus said.

“But it won’t have you; it won’t have its dad,” Harry insisted. “That’s what it’s going to care about, that you aren’t around. Your baby is not going to care that its dad is a werewolf.” Harry licked his lips. “I know I never did.”

“Harry,” Remus said, his voice choked and his eyes beginning to water. He reached out his arm, but it dropped in the face of Harry’s unabated anger. “Harry, I – thank you. That means… but you have to see how this situation is different.”

“No I don’t,” Harry said. “How is it different? Are you going to love this baby less than you did me?”

“Of course not,” Remus said, looking horrified by the suggestion.

“Okay then. If you’re going to love the baby and take care of it, then I don’t see how it can be different in any way that matters,” Harry said. “Look, I’m grown up now. I can take care of myself. Me, Ron, and Hermione, we can take care of each other. Your job is to take care of Tonks and the baby.”

Remus closed his eyes. For a long moment he stood there, then he slowly took in a deep breath and let it out before opening them again. “How did you grow up into such a good man?”

Harry shrugged and gave a small, lopsided smile. “I guess my dad taught me pretty well. You know, when he wasn’t being incredibly thick.”

This time when Remus reached out to him, Harry met him halfway. Harry was very nearly the same height as Remus now, but somehow when Remus hugged him, he still felt small and protected like a child. “No matter what’s to come in the battle ahead, know that I am so very proud of you,” Remus said into Harry’s ear. “I love you, son.”

**_0_ **

_Andromeda paused in front of the door to the bedroom. “If he’s sleeping don’t wake him up. He should be getting up on his own soon, and once he does you can bring him down to kitchen; I’ll have his bottle ready. And remember to support his head.”_

_At some other time Harry might have been annoyed at this third reminder to support Teddy’s head in the past twenty minutes, not to mention the two from Mrs. Weasley before he’d come over, but looking at the tired and worn expression on Andromeda’s face, he couldn’t bring himself to mind. He just nodded and agreed before heading into the nursery._

_At first he thought Teddy was still asleep, but when he peeked over the side of the crib, the baby’s eyes were wide open. Teddy was watching the mobile slowly turning above his head, but looked over at Harry as soon as he entered his field of vision._

_“Hey Teddy,” Harry said softly. “I’m Harry, your… godfather.” If Remus or even Tonks were still alive maybe Harry would have used the other title Remus had given him, but they were gone, so it would have to be godfather._

_Harry reached down and picked Teddy up, being careful to support his head. Andromeda probably wouldn’t have the bottle ready yet, so Harry decided to take Teddy for a few turns around the nursery before bringing him down. Teddy seemed unconcerned one way or the other, just watching Harry with big brown eyes – about the same shade as Andromeda’s he thought._

_“Your dad wanted you to know he and your mum died to make a world where you could live a happier life. I think you probably would have rather had them here, but it’s still something. It’s a lot, really, even if it won’t always seem like it._

_“Plus you’ll still have your gran. I don’t know Andromeda very well yet, but I can tell she loves you a lot. She’s going to take good care of you. Much better than my relatives did.” Harry pulled a bit of a face when he mentioned the Dursleys, half-hoping to get the baby to laugh. Teddy just kept staring at him with big solemn eyes._

_“And you’ll have me,” Harry continued. “My parents died when I was little too. Remus, your dad, stepped in and helped raise me in their place. Now I guess it’s my turn.”_

_This finally got a response from Teddy. He looked Harry right in the eyes and, very suddenly, broke out in big open-mouthed grin, the hair on his head darkening to jet-black. Harry planted a kiss on his forehead, and grinned back._


End file.
